A Hospitable Universe

This book argues that new developments in the sciences, in particular twentieth-century physics and twenty-first-century biology, suggest revising several pessimistic outlooks for the development of a scientific understanding of the relationship of humans with the universe.

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This book argues that new developments in the sciences, in particular twentieth-century physics and twenty-first-century biology, suggest revising several pessimistic outlooks for the development of a scientific understanding of the relationship of humans with the universe — in particular, implications for the development of a natural religiousness. In the new vision a universe which is friendly to life and consciousness naturally emerges.

Credit: Prof George Ellis, University of Cape Town

"Grand syntheses of physics, biology, and philosophy by well-informed writers, relating a sound understanding of science to concerns of daily and social life, are rare. This book presents just such an integrative view in a carefully considered and knowledgeable way, treating scientific issues, such as the nature and implications of quantum theory, its relation to emergence, the nature of epigenetics, and the way the universe is hospitable to life, in a carefully considered and accurate way

. This leads the authors to propose a form of natural religiousness - a unified vision of the world where human beings are part of a bigger unity and there is an order behind phenomena that is not estranged from human concerns. It is a very worthwhile and thoughtful presentation."

Credit: Carlo Rovelli, theoretical physicist and writer

"Rodolfo Gambini and Jorge Pullin, two main architects of loop quantum gravity, offer an insightful discussion on how contemporary fundamental physics corrects and enriches the naturalistic worldview, offering a renewed and original 'Spinozian' perspective on the world."